


The Map

by AthenaScarlet



Series: The Clothes Make the Man [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Leather Jackets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-02-09 00:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1962420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaScarlet/pseuds/AthenaScarlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She thought she wasn't the sentimental type, especially when it came to Hook. But somehow a piece of parchment became so much more than that for Emma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Map

**Author's Note:**

> I originally published this before the start of season 3B as part of a series of one-shots but wanted to break it out into a stand-alone story for a series. Hope you enjoy it again or for the first time!

Emma shouldn’t have been surprised that he was much heavier than some of the other idiots she had to wrangle in over the years. She just wasn’t expecting the leather to add that much weight. Although to be fair, she had never dealt with an actual pirate in her bail bonds days.

“Move him there!” Neal yelled. She carried Hook’s unconscious body by the arms over to a corner in the basement as Neal unceremoniously dropped the pirate’s legs. “I knew paying extra for this storage closet would pay off.”

Emma began rummaging through the pirate’s pockets trying to find anything that would help them figure out what he had done to Gold. “Emma, come on. Let’s go!”

“Just leave me the lock for the door. Go help your father.”

Neal gave her a worried look. “You sure? He’s Captain Hook, you know.”

Oh she knew -- all too well. “I’ve handled him before. Check on Gold.”

Neal gave her a quick nod and started running for the stairs. “And make sure to take care of Henry!” Emma yelled after him. It probably wasn’t necessary to remind him but figured she should do it anyway considering Henry had been reunited with his father only a few short hours ago.

Emma ran her hand along the smooth leather of Hook’s coat, surprised at its meticulous condition after 300 years. Inside were several pockets she began rummaging through to find something that may help them figure out what kind of poison he used to attack Gold or how he got here in the first place. One pocket held a vial of black liquid that she looked at quizzically before slipping it into her own coat. Then her hand brushed against a piece of paper, which she gently pulled out and began to unfold.

It was a map of New York with a big red X marking Neal’s building.

“Swan,” Hook mumbled from his spot on the floor next to her.

“What?” she replied in a flippant tone, barely paying attention to the pirate.

Upon closer inspection, the map seemed to be printed on old parchment so it didn’t look like a modern-day piece he had picked up at some tourist shop. Perhaps it was enchanted or had some sort of magic embedded in it. It would make perfect sense for someone like Cora to give him a map that could help him find his nemesis like this. Emma also saw a second mark by the river -- maybe where he had left his ship when he came ashore.

“Swan,” he murmured again.

This time she noticed -- and she was annoyed. “What do you want?” she hissed, rolling her eyes before looking up at the pirate.

And then she froze. He was still unconscious, still knocked out from the blow to his head, and he was asking for her.

“Hook?” she asked tentatively, but he just lay there unresponsive.

She started to reach for his cheek instinctively before stopping herself. What would possibly make her feel sympathy for his current situation? He was a pirate. Hell, he was Captain Hook! Why would she even feel the instinct to show him any warmth or sympathy as he lay on the floor? She was trying hard to block out any feelings she had for him or why she actually was in New York in the first place. After all, didn’t she come to New York with Gold to stop him from hurting Hook? And he looked at peace as he lay there, which was something she had never seen from him before. It was as if Emma could see the kind of person he would be when he wasn’t burdened with revenge.

Snap out of it, Swan! she told herself as she quickly folded up the map and stuffed it in her pocket. Emma leaned over and quietly whispered, “I’m sorry,” as her hand lingered on the arm of his leather coat. Then she gently ran her fingers down the length of his sleeve, catching them on the cuff before she could finally pull herself away.

*** *** ***

A string a curse words flooded out of Emma’s mouth as she violently threw open the door to the sheriff’s station.

This was ridiculous. They had made it so far -- to another realm! -- to get Henry back, and yet here they were facing off against Peter Pan. Again. After he was already dead.

You have to go, they said to her. You need to leave.

Her family and friends were headed to the town line and say goodbye while Emma was pulling open the desk drawer in her office to get her car keys. This isn’t fair, she thought as she tried to fight back tears so she could think clearly. There would be time for her to mourn losing them later, but she needed to get out of town now to get away from the new curse and take care of Henry.

She was about to walk out the door of her office for the last time when she remembered she needed to grab something else. If Emma was going to be on her own again, she’d want to have her gun with her just in case. She unlocked the bottom drawer and quickly pulled it open. Her gun was right on top but as she grabbed it, her hand brushed against something underneath it.

It was the map. Hook’s map.

I didn’t know you were sentimental, she had once said to him. And yet here she was with his map, which she had kept it in the drawer this whole time. She would never admit it -- ever! -- but there would be times when she would pull it out just to look at it and think about that moment with Hook in the basement of Neal’s apartment. The sound of his voice whispering her name that day still sent shivers up her spine. There was even one time when Emma was alone at the station and thought it would be a crazy but good idea to actually smell the map. Her nostrils filled with the smell of sea salt and rum and his leather coat. It was exactly what she expected Hook would smell like.

Stop it, she told herself, stuffing the parchment in the inside coat pocket of her jacket. She would have plenty of time to hold it again and remember the moments she had spent with her pirate. But right now, she had to leave so she could tell him goodbye one last time.

*** *** ***

“So explain this to me again. Why are we moving to New York?” Henry asked as he chowed down on his burger and fries in the front seat of their car.

Emma shrugged. “I just felt we needed a change, kid. We need a place to put new roots down. I promise this is going to be fun!”

“Yea, but why New York?”

“I wanted to go big, and there aren’t many places bigger than Boston.” She smiled over at him and he grinned back before stuffing some more fries into his mouth.

What she didn’t want to tell him was she chose New York for a specific reason. It was because of a map.

A few weeks ago as she was cleaning out her closet, Emma had found her old red leather jacket. It was one she hadn’t put on in years, but she couldn’t remember when she last wore it or why she had stopped. The good thing was she had it in her hands now and it felt like it had always meant something special to her.

Emma started digging through the pockets of the jacket. She always got a little kick out of finding random cash she had forgotten about in her old clothes or unused purses. This time, her hand brushed against something that felt like old paper in an inside pocket, but it turned out to be a bust. Instead of cash, it was some old worn parchment and she couldn’t even remember where it came from.

She carefully unfolded it to find it was a map of New York City. She recognized the streets of Manhattan after taking Henry on a weekend trip there once a few years ago. There were two red marks on it -- one by the East River and one a few blocks inland -- but she didn’t know why those spots would be important. She pulled it closer to examine it and could smell something from the paper. It was as if the map had been drenched in sea salt, rum and leather.

She pulled the map away from her face and stared at it. The smells seemed so crisp and fresh in her mind. She thought they reminded her of a long black leather coat with buttons down the front of it and huge cuffs. Emma shook her head, thinking it was odd that her memory of that smell seemed so specific. She had been having strange thoughts lately about people she sort of remembered but could never explain how she knew them. Thinking of something as specific as that coat nagged at her. After all, she definitely would’ve remembered someone dressed in a leather pirate coat who was important to her.

If she was being honest with herself, the map also felt like it was a sign. After all, Emma had thought about leaving town and taking Henry to another city even if she couldn’t really explain why. There was nothing wrong with Boston but lately, it just didn’t feel like it was where they should be. It was as if Emma and her son were supposed to be in a different place with different people.

She hung up the red coat and looked at the map again. The red X in Manhattan was actually in a neighborhood she really liked when she had visited. Maybe that’s where she would start her apartment search.

As she laid in bed that night, Emma kept trying to remember who put that map in her coat in the first place if only so she could thank them for encouraging her to start over and find a new happy ending.


End file.
